Ms. Yemi Adamolekun is the Executive Director of Enough is Enough Nigeria, a non – partisan coalition of individuals and organisations committed to building a culture of good governance and public accountability in Nigeria through active citizenship. She is also a management consultant. In this interview with Assistant Editor, CHINWE MADUAGWU, she talks about the participation of the young ones in the electoral process and how the current government has fared, among other issues.
TNE: What is Enough is Enough (EIE)?
It started in 2010 as a protest. At that time, President Yar’adua was ill or dead, we were not sure. At the January of that year, Tunde Bakare, Prof. Wole Shoyinka and a few others had done ‘Save Nigeria Group’ and had a protest. February of that year, there was a group called the Future Nigeria Project; they celebrate young Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 31, if I’m not mistaken, and they had an event where Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was the key note speaker. That time, she was still at the World Bank. She said young people were Nigeria’s future and that if we are serious about changing Nigeria, we have to take control of Nigeria because the numbers are in our future. We are the largest demographic. Following that, Chude Jideonwo, who was one of the promoters of the Future Awards, which was hosted by the Future Project, sent out an email to a few friends and the title was ‘Where is the Outreach?’ The basic gist of the email was that young people need to wake up and realize that the likes of Wole Shoyinka and Tunde Bakare cannot protest forever and they should take control of their destiny.
I was not part of that email thread but I was serving and I had time. A friend of mine told me there was a protest in Abuja and asked if I wanted to come. I said yes and ended up in Abuja that was in March. In April, there was a follow up protest in Lagos to Gov. Tunde Fashola. I was still serving and so I had time on my hand and they said the needed people to help with coordinating, compiling data, writing notes of minutes so I started helping. We had a meeting shortly after that to discuss what next. We have done this big protest –the one in Abuja was covered by major news organisations, CNN, BBC, everybody covered it. It was also the first protest that was life streamed, I believe. It was also the first protest in a long time that leveraged professionals. Some people basically left work to join; some people were on the street in their work clothes. It wasn’t a paid protest, we didn’t pay anybody to come.
I think also it was the first time celebrities lent their voices to such an action. Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde was there, Omawumi was there, Charlie boy was there, 2baba’s manager was there, Audu Maikori who at that time ran the record label that had M.I, Jesse Jagz and Ice Prince, was there. So there was an interesting mix of celebrities, professionals and young people doing all sorts of things.
After that, we decided what next. We then said we can’t protest every time we are angry, that the best thing to do was to focus on elections. Elections were coming up in 2011, so it was about how do we get young people to participate. That’s basically how Enough is Enough came to be. It wasn’t a planned organisation. We didn’t have a five-year master plan or anything like that. We just kind of stumbled into it.
TNE: That protest was eight years ago and the whole idea was to get the youths involved in the political sphere. How involved would you say the youths are now?
I would say very very involved. One of the things we didn’t do from the very beginning is to encourage young people to join political parties. We have paid a lot more attention in getting young people to participate. Participation is joining political parties, but we focus more on the voting part. Our election campaign is titled RSVP and RSVP is a French phrase. Basically, if they invite you to an event they ask you to rsvp if you’re coming. We said young people should rsvp that they plan to be at the table to decide Nigeria’s future. R, stands for register to vote, S, stands for select credible candidates, V, stands for vote on election day and P, stands for protect your vote on election day and the four years in between. As you can see from the acronym it was focused a lot on participation in that electoral process. But eight years down the line, one of the things we are now paying a bit more attention to is getting more young people in political parties. So not only are you voting, you are also being voted for. From 2011 to 2018 leading up to next year’s elections, we can see a lot more young people being engaged in the conversation. So EiE leveraged a lot on the social media to even organize our first protest, from BlackBerry groups to twitter at that time, to SMS to email. We used a lot of media and also because we weren’t an organisation so we didn’t have resources and social media was free. Over the years, the conversation on social media platform has increased from 2011 to 2015 and now to 2019.
TNE: Again, how responsive have the youths been towards your ‘RSVP’ Project?
They have been responding. But in the dynamics of the game, we can’t say we did this or that because it is a combined effect. EiE is working, other civil society groups are working, churches are working, mosques are working, and media is working so it’s a combined effect. But what I know we stand out on without any shadow of doubt is that we are the strongest online voice for young people in terms of voter participation. From 2011 to 2018, we’ve maintained consistently engaging young people online around what it means to participate in the electoral space. We are also the only organisation that has consistently organised debates. The S part of our RSVP is select credible candidates and we decided very early that we are going to use debates as a platform to help citizens select.
When we started at first we focused on young people. But RSVP really applies to everybody so we’ve broadened it along the way and for the S and organising debates, we partner with other organisations and media platforms but we’ve been consistent in saying that we know that the politics we run now in Nigeria are not issue-based, debates don’t move the dial in any major way but if we are thinking of our democracy as a journey, our hope is that in 10-20 years, issues based conversations will have a more prominent place in the conversations that we have.
We also started using celebrity voices as influencers. We started it in 2011 but other organisations have picked up on it. It’s a bit of a challenge though because it is difficult because quite a number of celebrities are aligned in one way or the other, either because of the state they live in and the governor is of a particular party or just because of who they are. But we’ve been lucky especially with somebody like 2baba who since 2011 has remained unaligned. He has not endorsed any candidate; he has not spoken for anybody or against. He has consistently been about good governance and public accountability. Omotola is also one, Omawunmi is also there. So I think that has helped us over the years. Even INEC now has celebrity ambassadors.
TNE: So what do you make of the Nigerian political space at this point especially as 2019 is around the corner?
It’s an interesting space. I mean we were talking before we started about PDP offering the governorship ticket to Femi Otedola and I guess at that point it’s almost uncontested so he would be their candidate. In APC, from Ashiwaju to Fashola there was no contest really. For Fashola, second term was heavily contested until APC sort of cleaned up their house and then presented one unified face. For Ambode also Ashiwaju supported his first term but there were a few contenders. But now for Ambode, there are three main contenders and two of them were former associates of Gov. Tinubu. It’s interesting and Lagos for me is the microcosm of the changing dynamics and the second part is defecting politicians. As people tend to say, APC and PDP are ‘six and half a dozen.’ The fact that they recycle their members says a lot and I’m hoping it tells citizens to pay a bit more attention because if yesterday PDP was good and today APC is the best thing, what does that really say about what you stand for? Thirdly, we now have 91 registered political parties. It’s interesting and it does say a lot, not because there are about 91 different ways of running a government. It says that quite a few of them are there just to be there, a few are there as people say, as a money making venture. This is election season and as a political party, you get invited to certain meetings, your candidates and aspirants will be involved in certain conversations and for some, that’s all there is. Really, it boils down to two or three that are talking differently on how they plan to govern and the coalitions.
But when you look at these coalitions, ultimately from my perspective, none of them is about Nigerians. All of them are looking for the best possible vehicle to get power. It’s not about delivering for Nigerians or making the lives of Nigerians better and we are hoping that once their primaries are over, the conversation can then get to that level of ‘really, what do you stand for,’ and citizens can hopefully vote based on what they see or the track records of the contenders.
We are working on a project right now where we are trying to drill down the job description of office holders. Like, as a local government chairman, what is your job description? As a governor, what is your job description, what exactly are you required to do and then parallel that to the person’s track record. So, if your job description is move from A to B, and in all your life, you’ve never left point A, how would you move if you don’t know how to? So we are hoping that would help citizens think–OK, he’s meant to deliver on this but he’s never managed people or resources because as a governor, your role is to manage people and resources for the collective benefit of all. But you are running for office, you’ve never managed money, you’ve never managed people, you’ve never hired one staff member, how do you want to run a state?
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We are hoping that that level of conversation will help people choose who they want representing and leading them. There is a lot of focus at the presidential level, which is why we have 43 aspirants. Everybody thinks they can be president and it speaks to people’s disappointment with the current administration. That’s how I choose to see it. The fact that everybody wants to be president means they think the current president is not doing well. But the election is not just about the presidency. There are things that are the local government chairman’s responsibility, there are some things that the governor is expected to do. So our shouting Buhari from now till tomorrow will not solve the problem. We are looking forward to interesting conversations.
TNE: In all the dynamics you have looked at, how fit or ready are the young ones to participate in the process?
Participating from the point of being someone to be voted for, not very much. Fortunately, though, there’s now the not-too-young-to-run Act that provides the legal basis for youths to be in the race. But it’s not just about age. It’s also about who you are. What are you bringing to the table? Your age doesn’t confer you any special status, but what have you done in your community. Are young people playing the role they need to play so that when they stand up people in their community will say ‘that one, I know him. He’s a good man.’ And I’m not sure that has been the case.
There are a few, so it’s not as if by being young it’s automatic or you’re the best thing or you’re the solution to our problem. That’s one part. But on the voting part, if I’m not mistaken, INEC numbers say for 2015, over 60% of registered voters were young people. So if we have that large block of being registered voters, the question then is how do we translate that into actual voting on election day. Who are you voting for? So, the readiness in being registered, if we can say that, yes they are ready. But as registered voters, how do they use that power? That’s a different conversation.
TNE: We saw what happened at the Ekiti governorship election. What’s your take on that election and what does it tell you about 2019?
In 2019, we are going to spend a lot of money. We talk about vote buying, but really everybody’s vote is for sale. The difference is the currency. For you and I the currency might be manifesto, ideas, track record, charisma etc. For some other people, it is simple transaction and it is simple transaction to them because the thinking is, ‘I have not seen governance work for me. This is the time which you appeal to me. I can see you, you are asking for my help. I will get what I can from you now. If you then decide you want to run away after that, I’ll leave you.’ But it’s part of how citizens see themselves in this governance issue which is why for us, our P is not only protecting your vote on election day, but also in the four years in between and that protection means your saying to your representative, ‘Old boy, I voted for you, what are you doing?
As a friend of mine likes to describe them, the dynamics of our governance in Nigeria, basically is shaped by three things – our military history. Subconsciously, we don’t realize just how much from the generations that were involved to those that have come after, how you see government as ‘them.’ You don’t ask questions, ‘just leave them,’ because nobody wants to die. Our military history talks of how we see government people and how we don’t make inputs.
Secondly, our culture; I’m a Yoruba girl, asking someone who is old enough to be my father or uncle, ‘how did you spend money,’ is a bit difficult and I think that applies to most cultures in Nigeria. It’s the culture of deference and respect but what we are trying to say is that you can ask questions but still be respectful. The fact that you are elected as my senator and I’m asking you why you are collecting N15m a month and doing nothing is not meant to be rude and it’s not meant to be disrespectful. I’m just asking a factual question because ultimately, you work for me. If there were no citizens all our elected representatives will have no work. So because technically I am paying your salary, though you might be older than me, really I should be able to ask you how far? It’s getting the citizens to get to that point of being unashamed about asking. As an aside, our political class understands that and they leverage on it. That’s why a politician who has been convicted, or who has even gone to jail will enter a place and people still hail him. Even those who should be in jail but are not, if they walk into a gathering, they are hailed. Nobody asks them any questions. Governor Rotimi Amaechi spoke at an event and basically said the same thing. He said it’s the people who allow politicians to get away with the things they do. Basically, he said something like, ‘if my convoy is coming, nobody stones me, nobody boos me. If I get into a place I am hailed. So in my brain, I have not done anything wrong.’ That’s culture.
The last is religion. Part of our problem in all these is that we have outsourced thinking to God. It’s always, ‘God dey. God will do it. God is in control.’ We seem to have left our jobs and responsibilities to God. Speaking as a Christian, God will not do what he has created human beings to do. So if you pray from now till tomorrow and not take action, nothing will happen. It is the same Bible that we are using to pray that says ‘faith without work is dead.’ Lagos-Ibadan expressway is our church boulevard. Almost all the churches are there. A few big Islamic groups are also there. Yet, for me that road represents a symbol of the dysfunction of religion. The road is a mess. It’s taking years to fix the road yet we are all going there for one religious programme or the other.
Religion is another issue. We pray and pray, waiting for God. Is it God that will repair the bad spot on the road in front of the church or clean the gutters around the church?
Those three things affect the way we see Nigeria. Getting back to vote buying, for some it’s a transaction, because they have not seen government work, they are quite content if I may use that word or are satisfied with the N5, 000 for the day to cook a pot of stew.
I don’t know if it’s as black people or as a nation, but long term thinking, sacrificing now for later is something we struggle with, if we then take that into politics, we want everything now.
TNE: Let’s look at the cost of nomination and expression of interest forms. For APC, it is N45m and for PPD N12m for the Presidential ticket. The cheapest is N1m and N500, 000 respectively for the house of assembly. How affordable are these for the young ones which the Not-Too-Young-to-Run law seeks to encourage?
Well, the law is one thing and the reality of the law is another. With the Not-Too-Young-to-Run movement, that would be the step two. They’ve got the law passed, the step two of their advocacy would be working with the parties to say ‘these numbers are not realistic for young people. What are you going to do? Over the years, women usually get their forms free or at a reduced cost, which I think has now been extended to people with disabilities.
But the whole thing is tied to the way we run our political parties. Political parties don’t really need their members until they start doing primaries which then require delegates, a small group as well. But if a party is funded by members, then they would have built a base to run the party. Elections are money making time so N45m is the money the party could have been collecting at N500 over a period of four years or so across the country, they now want to collect it at one sitting.
INEC law says that an individual can not contribute more than N1m to another’s campaign so basically you need 46 people to contribute to buy the form and really what does that say. But it’s something that must be fought. We have not paid attention to public and political party financing and there’s a gap in our shining our light on these things. We need to ask the question where is the money coming from and even the vote buying we are talking about, where is the money coming from? Somebody is paying for it and unfortunately, even though you can’t move money on election day, political parties and people in government, if they are moving money nobody is going to stop them. It’s if you and I are moving money that they will waylay you and be asking you questions, but if a governor’s convoy is going nobody is going to stop them. That’s part of the challenge we have.
In Nigerian politics, when you join a political party, it’s like you take a number. They use this to cheat the young ones. Obviously, I cannot join a political party at the time an older person joined. So if they are doing it by age, it will never come to me and who knows tomorrow. What’s the guarantee that I would be around tomorrow? So telling me to take a number is not acceptable. Let everybody go to primaries. If the young person is able to win the heart of the people, then give them the opportunity to do it. The same goes for all these consensus candidates. I know two young people now who have been told to step down. One of them I know has spent a lot of money and if they did primaries, they know he will win, but because of one favour to somebody and the fact that he is young, you can basically tell him to step down.
TO BE CONCLUDED